


The House on the Hill

by crankyjones



Series: Because Newtmas is beautiful. [5]
Category: The Maze Runner (Movies), The Maze Runner Series - All Media Types, The Maze Runner Series - James Dashner
Genre: Alternate Universe, Ghosts, Haunted Houses, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-14
Updated: 2018-05-14
Packaged: 2019-05-07 00:17:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,844
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14659230
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crankyjones/pseuds/crankyjones
Summary: “Isaac, your turn. Truth or dare?”I had to choose dare. Everyone else did. And I didn’t want them to think I was fearful. The thing was; I did was fearful. And they knew it. But I wanted to prove them wrong.“Dare,” I said after taking a deep breath. I was expecting the worst.“I dare you,” he started and paused for a second, as if he was thinking. “I dare you to say hi to our friends the ghosts in the haunted house.”





	The House on the Hill

**Author's Note:**

> Short story written for my English class. Sorry for any mistakes, I'm French :)  
> Hope you'll enjoy!

Once upon a time, a beautiful day in nineteen-sixty-four… No, just kidding. The story I’m about to tell you took place just a week ago, in twenty-eighteen, during the night. Before I tell you the real story – the really interesting one –, let me explain how I ended up standing in front of the hill whose house was supposed to be haunted.

I was hanging out with my friends in Derbyshire. It was a sunny Saturday and we thought – or more likely they thought – that we should play truth or dare. A casual game for seventeen-year-old teenagers, right?  
“Isaac, your turn. Truth or dare?”  
I had to choose dare. Everyone else did. And I didn’t want them to think I was fearful. The thing was; I did was fearful. And they knew it. But I wanted to prove them wrong.  
“Dare,” I said after taking a deep breath. I was expecting the worst.  
“I dare you,” he started and paused for a second, as if he was thinking. “I dare you to say hi to our friends the ghosts in the haunted house.”  
Everyone started laughing, saying I wouldn’t be capable of doing it even if I wanted to.   
“I’ll do it.” My words seemed to cut the air off of their lungs. I said this on a whim. Why would I even say this? My heart started beating faster. I couldn’t turn back in time. I had to do what I said. I had to. Otherwise, my friends would laugh at me until the day I'd die.

So here I was, in front of the hill. To be a hundred percent honest, I was scared – no, I was terrified. As petrified, I couldn’t even move a finger. The darkness surrounding me was not helping. My friends decided to stay there, at the bottom, while I would climb and enter the house. I told them it was not fair but they didn’t listen, saying it was my dare, not theirs. They were kind of right, but the truth was, they were scared too. They were just too proud to admit it.

Cheers from my friends hurried me. I took a deep, long breath, and I put my foot on the grass. I started climbing, foot after foot, step after step. The herb was high and a few branches cut my legs as I walked and walked and walked until I arrived at the very top of the hill. I couldn’t hear my friends’ cheers anymore but, deep down, I knew they were still there, waiting for me to run down the hill, shouting in fear. I would not give them this pleasure. I could not give them this pleasure.  
I looked up and stared at the building. Shivers went through my spine. The house was painted in a deep black so I almost didn’t see it. There were a few lines where the painting was gone – it had to be a long time since someone lived here. Although there was no spiders to be seen, spiderwebs were hanging from the beams. Maybe they were dead and were the ones haunting the place. That was a crazy thought that was likely not true, but I’d rather see the ghosts of those spiders than ghosts of human beings.

The house was much higher and bigger than I thought. Almost every window was broken and pieces of glass were laying on the grass. I tried to be careful not to walk on it since I'd like to come out of this dare alive. I really did not want to go inside. If there was a wolf running after me, I think I'd let it eat me alive if that meant not entering this scary building. But I had to enter. My friends would kick me out of our little group if I didn’t do my dare. And I couldn't handle loneliness.  
I turned around, looking at the bottom of the hill, only to see their little faces staring at me, hidden behind bushes. My eyes ended up on the house again, analysing every single detail I could see through the darkness. The door was only a couple steps away. Just two more steps and I would be right in front of the door. Just two more steps and I would have to go inside. Just two more steps and I would finally prove them I deserved their friendship and company.

So I did. I walked two steps, opened the door, and went inside the house. The doorknob slipped from my hands, making my arm cut to my side. I looked at my surroundings, feeling the fear climbing up my throat. There was no light to be seen; the only source of clarity was the moon. But that was enough for me to notice stares on my right and a corridor in front of me. I decided to walk in order to explore a little. That was my dare, after all, and I couldn’t just walk out of the house after spending five seconds in it. But suddenly, a loud noise made me turn around. The door. The door was closed. I didn’t close it. It closed by itself. With no help. It closed alone. Or maybe it didn't. Could it be... Could it be a ghost?  
When I was just a little kid, my parents used to tell me stories about ghosts. Those said ghosts were invisible for the human’s eye. Maybe it was true, maybe I couldn’t see ghosts, there were probably dozens of them all around me for all I knew.  
My breathing increased. Yes, I was scared. Who wouldn’t be? There was a ghost right there! Or was there? Was it a ghost who closed the front door? I didn’t know. I couldn’t know. I thought I was gonna throw up.

“Hello?”  
A low voice made me freeze. I wasn’t the one who spoke. Someone else was there, right behind me. A ghost? No, the stories did not mention the fact that humans could hear their voices.  
“Hey, you alright?” The same voice.  
Should I turn around, see who talked to me? Or should I just open the door and run as if my life depended on it and ruin my relationship with the only people who accepted me? The choice was quickly made.

I turned around slowly, as if the person who spoke would burn me alive if I did any sudden moves. But there was no ghost, no monster, no wolf; just a boy who looked around my age.  
“H– Hello,” I said, my voice shaking.  
“I’m not gonna kill you, you know.” The boy chuckled, making a smile grow on his face covered in moles.  
“I– I know.” Lie. I didn’t know. I honestly thought he was going to kill me.  
“What’s your name?” Should I tell him? For all I knew, he was a serial killer who trapped his victims in a haunted house, making them believe he was all nice and innocent with his cute smile and fluffy brown hair.  
“Newton.” Another lie. Well, not exactly. It was a semi-lie, Newton being my middle name. But I just couldn’t say my real name! Maybe he did was a serial killer!  
“Nice to meet you, Newt, I’m–”  
“I’m not Newt. I’m Newton,” I interrupted him, wanting to show him I was actually a tough guy – not a fearful one.  
“Can’t I give you a nickname, Newt?” The teenager teased. Of course he was going to tease me. With my face that made me look twelve and my slender body, it was not possible for me to look tough.  
“Whatever,” I gave up. “What’s your name?”  
“Thomas.”  
“Alright, Tommy.” It was my turn to tease him. Hopefully, he wouldn’t start laughing. “May I ask you what you’re doing around here?”  
“Shouldn’t I be the one asking you that? It’s where I live.”

Hum. Stop. Wait a second. He lived here? It was his house? Wasn’t he too young to live by himself? Especially in a house in ruins and supposed haunted?  
I stayed quiet for quite a long time. I didn’t know what to say. I didn’t even know what I was still doing here, I could as well just run away from this place and never come back. But something was making me want to stay here with him, want to stay here for him. My thought were going crazy; one side wanting me to stay, the other wanting me to run. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t even know why the thought of staying here went through my mind. Was I becoming insane? Was the house doing that to me? Was Thomas doing that to me?

“Isn’t the house haunted?” I ended up asking, shutting my mind down.  
“Is that why you’re here?”  
“No,” I answered, saying the truth for once.  
“Do you think it’s haunted?”  
“I don’t know.”  
“Well, sit down with me, then.”  
What? Why?  
Tommy saw my hesitation, because he took my hand. “C’mon,” he insisted, guiding me through a door I didn't notice and to a red couch.

He made me seat down right next to him, on his left, and he stared at me.  
“So, Newt, you didn’t answer before; why are you here?” He asked.  
“I don't know if I can trust you,” I said, ignoring his question. I thought I might as well be honest with him. What could a teenager possibly do, anyway?  
“I can tell,” he giggled. “But since you didn't run, I think you trust me at least a little bit.”  
“I... I don't know why I'm still here, actually. It's like there's something making me stay.”  
“You love me already? Wow, that was pretty fast.” He put a big smile on his face.  
I stayed silent for a second, feeling my cheeks heating up.  
“Are you a witch or something?” I asked before I could stop myself.  
“Why would you ask that?” Thomas laughed.  
“How do you do that?” I kept going, as if something made me say anything that went through my mind.  
“How do I do what, Newt? You have to be more specific.”  
“This!” I said a bit louder, showing my whole body.  
“I don't do anything, blondie. You're doing this yourself.”  
“My friends and I, we were playing truth or dare and they dared me to come in here,” I said suddenly, not wanting to hear more about whatever this was.  
“See, Newt? You trust me.”  
“I don't. I can't. I don't know you, Thomas.”  
“Tommy, not Thomas.”  
“Newton, not Newt.”  
“You love it when I call you Newt, stop denying it.”  
“Stop whatever you're doing, Tommy.” Subconsciously, I obeyed to him. And I didn't like it. I didn't like what he was doing.  
“What am I doing?”  
“I don't know what you're doing to me, but I don't like it. It's your smile and your hair you can't stop touching for one bloody second. It's your white shirt that shows your collarbone, it's... It's your black skinny jeans that shows your too long to be real legs. It's your whole person that's doing something to me and I want you to stop.” The fear in my body was even stronger now. Those words weren't supposed to leave my mind, but they did. I didn't know how, but they did. He was the one who made them do. I didn't know how nor why but I knew it was his fault.

Thomas sat a little closer to me and I wanted to stand up and run, but I just couldn't. He didn't let me.  
“Newt, just calm down, alright?” Tommy looked at me with eyes full of worry. He tried to reach out for my arm but I didn't let him, pulling it away from him before he could. “I don't do anything to you, I swear. It's just... I just need someone. I've been all alone for so long.”  
I suddenly felt bad for him. I hated being alone. I could understand what he felt.  
“Your friends,” he started, “are not your friends. They're mean to you, they use you. And you let them do so. You have to leave them.”  
“I'll be alone if I do,” I said calmly, feeling the fear in my body turn into sadness for him and for me.  
“I'm here now. We can be together forever. We'll never be alone anymore.” He looked up and stared at me. “I can't stand being alone and scaring people.”  
“Scaring people?”  
“You were scared, Newt. I know it. You still are,” he said as tears formed in his eyes.  
“I'm not, not anymore. I promise, okay? Why don't you go out of this house and find another place to live? Why don't you go to high school? I'm sure everyone would love you. I mean, look at you! You don't have to be alone.” I didn't know why I was saying this. I just didn't want him to feel lonely anymore. No one deserved to feel lonely. Loneliness was the worst feeling.  
I saw a tear rolling down his cheek. “I can't, Newt. I can't go out.”  
“Why? You can do anything you want, Tommy.” I sat a little bit closer. Just a few inches separated our knees.  
“I just can't. I'm not able to.”

He was fully crying, now. So I did what I thought was right; I brought myself closer to him and I hugged him. But it didn't end up very well.  
I fell on the sofa. My nose ended up on the red material and a weird but familiar smell entered my nostrils. I went through him, I went through Thomas, through his body. At first, I thought he just moved because he didn't want me to hug him, but soon enough I noticed he was still sat on the couch. I couldn't manage to move, I didn't understand what just happened, I didn't really realise it happened. I didn't know what to do, at this moment.

“You understand why I can't leave, don't you?” Thomas's voice asked, letting hear a little sob that made my heart break through the fear that came flooding back.  
Oh, yes, I did understand. I freaked out at first. I couldn't move. It was just like when I stood in front of the house, as paralysed. I just couldn't believe he was... He just couldn't be...  
“I'm a ghost, Newt. I'm dead.”  
I carried myself up and sat properly on the couch, though it was hard with my arms that couldn't stop shaking.  
“Why didn't you... Why didn't you tell me?” I asked, looking at him with wide eyes.  
“What did you want me to say?” He nervously laughed. “Hi, I'm Thomas. I died in nineteen-sixty-four. Wanna hook up? Yeah, I don't think so.”  
“I... I can't believe it,” I admitted.

I stared at him, trying to find any proof that what he was saying was the truth. But there was nothing; he looked like any casual young man. But he was not a casual young man. He died years ago. He was a ghost.  
“Guess the rumours are true, then,” I said, looking down at my hands that were still slightly shaking.  
“They are. But I'm not evil, I'm... I just need someone.”  
“You have me, now. I'll visit you. Maybe not every single day, but I will,” I promised.  
“You're not scared?” I could feel his eyes watching me.  
“I am. But I understand how you feel. No one deserves to feel this, not even a ghost.”  
“Why don't you run?”  
“I can't. You make me stay, somehow.” I wanted to run. I really, really wanted to. But I couldn't manage to stand up and make my feet do their job.  
“I'm sorry, Newt.”

I looked up at Tommy. He was now on his feet and stepped closer to me. I didn't have the time to do anything; he took a knife out of his pocket and slipped my throat.  
“I'm sorry, Newt. I'm sorry.” I could still hear him apologise and see his tears through my eyelashes as the blood ran down my neck and my torso.  
Soon enough, I was dead. I was dead because of my friends.

But a hand landed on my shoulder, shaking my body.  
“Newt, wake up!”  
Thomas. He was there.  
“Why–” I couldn't finish my sentence, I started coughing. “Why did you do that? Am I dead?”  
“I'm sorry, Newt. I'm so sorry. I couldn't let you tell everyone about me and ruin my chances to be loved again.”  
I didn't realise I was crying until he put me in his arms. I could feel his tears falling on my shoulder.  
“Now, we're together, Newt. We'll always be.”

I would like to tell you it was just a dream. But it wasn't. I died a week ago. I lost everything I had a week ago. But, at least, I wasn't alone anymore. I had someone. I had Tommy. I would always have Tommy. I would always be stuck with Tommy.


End file.
